Tamagotchi is coming back to Columbus, at least for a weekend. The Tamagotchi USA Road Trip, a free traveling pop-up celebrating the virtual pet’s 30th anniversary, stops at Polaris Fashion Place on Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30.
The pop-up will be located in the space next to the Apple Store. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
What’s inside the pop-up
Bandai built the tour around hands-on nostalgia rather than a museum-style display. Visitors can play a real-life version of the Poop Sweep minigame from the toy, build at nanoblock workshops, decorate a device at a customization station, and look through the Tamagotchi Telescope, an installation that shows off the different worlds in the Tamagotchi universe. Themed photo ops, of course, will be available.
The pop-up will also be selling current Tamagotchi products alongside exclusive merchandise that’s only available on the tour.
A second lap around the country
This is the road trip’s second year. The 2026 edition visits eight cities between August 15 and October 4, and Columbus is one of them. Bandai posts stop-by-stop details and the occasional surprise announcement on the @Tamagotchi_US Instagram account.
The original Tamagotchi launched in Japan in 1996 and set off a global craze that peaked in American schoolyards shortly after, teaching kids that if they had a spotty memory something could actually die. The brand has quietly kept going ever since, and newer models now sync with apps and connect with other devices.
Full event details can be found right here on the mall’s event page.
